Students shout down Ku Klux Klan prior to Ole Miss game

[bobbyw24]

Students shout down Ku Klux Klan prior to Ole Miss game

By Phil West

Originally published 04:05 p.m., November 21, 2009
Updated 04:05 p.m., November 21, 2009

OXFORD, Miss. — A rally by the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan fizzled soon after it began this morning as students shouted down the 11 KKK members who were protesting a University of Mississippi decision to bar the school band from playing “From Dixie with Love” — a medley that some football fans append by shouting, “The South shall rise again.”

The KKK members, in full red, white and black regalia, including hoods that covered the faces of all but one member, silently waved Confederate battle flags and the KKK flag as they stood in front of the Fulton Chapel while a mostly student crowd called the members “white trash,” among other insults.

Klan leaders had said they were holding the rally to support fans’ free-speech right to shout, “The South shall rise again.”

The crowd did not see things that way.

“Go to hell, KKK, go to hell,” the group shouted in unison.

Shane Tate of Tupelo, the grand titan of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, apparently shouted something in response, but he could not be heard over the crowd noise.

A host of local and campus police, along with riot-gear-wearing state troopers, separated crowd members from the Klansmen, who left under a police escort five hours before the start of the LSU-Ole Miss football game.

Tate had said he expected from 20 to 100 KKK members for the rally, but his turnout was far smaller.

Student Nikki McGee of McComb, Miss., said she and friends had come to the Grove, the school’s legendary spot for pregame tail-gating, but were attracted by the crowd of about 300 people at the protest site.

“To me, this is a representation of what people think Ole Miss is,” said McGee, who is African-American.

“They’re just trying to make it look like it is, but it’s not.”

The KKK rally, she said, “is very stupid, very stupid.”

When the rally began, a group of more than 100 students, faculty and alumni held a counter-protest. They wore white T-shirts that said “Turn your back on hate” and “I live by the UM Creed.”

With their backs to the KKK members about 30 yards away, the group read over and over the university’s student creed which says, among other things, “I believe in respect for the dignity of each person.”

Associated Student Body president Artair Rogers of Guntown, Miss., said the counter-protest was “truly a university effort.”

“Our major concern was to show that this is what we stand for as a university,” Rogers said.

“We just wanted everyone to know what we as Ole Miss students stand for.”

University Chancellor Dan Jones on Nov. 17 ordered the band to stop playing “From Dixie with Love,” a medley that blends “Dixie,” the Confederate Army’s fight song, with the Union Army’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

The band has played the song during Ole Miss football games for about 20 years.

Jones said the “South shall rise again” chant supports “those outside our community who would advocate a revival of segregation.”

In a news release announcing the rally, the KKK’s Tate said his group, part of the Southern Alliance of Klans, which claims more than 7,000 members, believes Jones’ decision was an “attack on our Southern heritage and culture.”



http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...le-miss-rally/

[Mike Mitrosky]

What no video??? Nex time Ole Miss dont forget the gravy

[Cowlesy]

Some thoughtful comments on that article.

November 21, 2009
8:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
Reply to this post
Okami writes:
in response to joe4444:

Please forgive my bluntness but that is the dumbest, most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. Nobody in their right mind stands and shouts like an idiot at the KKK that they disapprove of them, because the KKK appreciates that, they love feeding off that free press & attention. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY SHOWED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!?!

They are not dumb enough to think that anyone ever agreed with them, I mean think seriously here! How many people do you know that actually agree with the Klan? You only see a few nuts accusing those with "Southern Pride" opinions of being "klansmen" but usually those are just narrow-minded accusations from people who cannot think well enough to see both sides of an argument.

If nobody showed up to the Klan's rally, who are they winning? Nobody would have heard their voice. Nobody would have paid them piece of mind. The press would ignore them. Furthermore, they would have been irrelevant. Now Ole Miss looks like a campus that can't handle racism the right way. The 100 or so fans that yelled and heckled them just gave the KKK free publicity.

I don't ignore injustice, but I refuse to insist that it is appropriate to yell & scream at all forms of it. This injustice only wants attention, like Al Sharpton only wants attention. You know as well as I do the best thing to do to someone who wants attention. Like a screaming baby, you IGNORE IT!!!


---
I see where you're coming from. The KKK are kinda like internet trolls. Now, ask yourself this: what's the primary goal of an internet troll? Attention.

Bingo! If no one shows up to counter-protest or listen to them, who hears them?

[Dunedain]

The FBI is playing dressup again eh?

[RM918]

Originally Posted by Cowlesy

Some thoughtful comments on that article.



Bingo! If no one shows up to counter-protest or listen to them, who hears them?

But then no-one gets to feel morally superior.

And I think the FBI would've had a better turnout. Reptiles, maybe?

[MelissaWV]

Originally Posted by Cowlesy

Some thoughtful comments on that article.



Bingo! If no one shows up to counter-protest or listen to them, who hears them?

The only problem with this is that there is a major difference: the media. This was a televised game. Everything was tied up before the event, and as it was pointed out there appears to be no video. Other than this blurb, I really hadn't heard anything about it, and that is a grand thing. The limited attention this teeny group got from a "counter protest" hours before the game caused a "disturbance" big enough for security to get involved, and so the game went on and I heard nothing about it. I'm sure many who watched the game didn't hear anything about it.

This is more like causing a very small back and forth with a troll (enough to attract a moderator, let's say) and taking part in a brief scene that's enough to demonstrate a disregard on their part for the rules. It knocks them from walking that tightrope line between ban and stay, straight to going splat on the ground far below.

[RevolutionSD]

Originally Posted by bobbyw24

Students shout down Ku Klux Klan prior to Ole Miss game

By Phil West

Originally published 04:05 p.m., November 21, 2009
Updated 04:05 p.m., November 21, 2009

OXFORD, Miss. — A rally by the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan fizzled soon after it began this morning as students shouted down the 11 KKK members who were protesting a University of Mississippi decision to bar the school band from playing “From Dixie with Love” — a medley that some football fans append by shouting, “The South shall rise again.”

The KKK members, in full red, white and black regalia, including hoods that covered the faces of all but one member, silently waved Confederate battle flags and the KKK flag as they stood in front of the Fulton Chapel while a mostly student crowd called the members “white trash,” among other insults.

Klan leaders had said they were holding the rally to support fans’ free-speech right to shout, “The South shall rise again.”

The crowd did not see things that way.

“Go to hell, KKK, go to hell,” the group shouted in unison.

Shane Tate of Tupelo, the grand titan of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, apparently shouted something in response, but he could not be heard over the crowd noise.

A host of local and campus police, along with riot-gear-wearing state troopers, separated crowd members from the Klansmen, who left under a police escort five hours before the start of the LSU-Ole Miss football game.

Tate had said he expected from 20 to 100 KKK members for the rally, but his turnout was far smaller.

Student Nikki McGee of McComb, Miss., said she and friends had come to the Grove, the school’s legendary spot for pregame tail-gating, but were attracted by the crowd of about 300 people at the protest site.

“To me, this is a representation of what people think Ole Miss is,” said McGee, who is African-American.

“They’re just trying to make it look like it is, but it’s not.”

The KKK rally, she said, “is very stupid, very stupid.”

When the rally began, a group of more than 100 students, faculty and alumni held a counter-protest. They wore white T-shirts that said “Turn your back on hate” and “I live by the UM Creed.”

With their backs to the KKK members about 30 yards away, the group read over and over the university’s student creed which says, among other things, “I believe in respect for the dignity of each person.”

Associated Student Body president Artair Rogers of Guntown, Miss., said the counter-protest was “truly a university effort.”

“Our major concern was to show that this is what we stand for as a university,” Rogers said.

“We just wanted everyone to know what we as Ole Miss students stand for.”

University Chancellor Dan Jones on Nov. 17 ordered the band to stop playing “From Dixie with Love,” a medley that blends “Dixie,” the Confederate Army’s fight song, with the Union Army’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

The band has played the song during Ole Miss football games for about 20 years.

Jones said the “South shall rise again” chant supports “those outside our community who would advocate a revival of segregation.”

In a news release announcing the rally, the KKK’s Tate said his group, part of the Southern Alliance of Klans, which claims more than 7,000 members, believes Jones’ decision was an “attack on our Southern heritage and culture.”



http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...le-miss-rally/

The KKK still exists? Those must be the 11 remaining members.

[Dieseler]

If only the University of Denver student body had intervened as those kids at Ole Miss did against those vile KKK protesters then maybe this travesty might not have taken place against these 32 poor young men in Denver.

YouTube - 32 Blacks Arrested For Racially-Motivated Robberies
Such a shame.

[Cowlesy]

Originally Posted by Dieseler

If only the University of Denver student body had intervened as those kids at Ole Miss did against those vile KKK protesters then maybe this travesty might not have taken place against these 32 poor young men in Denver.

YouTube - 32 Blacks Arrested For Racially-Motivated Robberies
Such a shame.

Good grief. Can you imagine the international fury had the races been reversed in the video-clip above?

Congress would be passing bills left and right!!

[LouisianaSportsman]

YouTube - KKK Protest and Anti Hate Counter Rally at Ole Miss LSU Game 2009